Cardholder

The role of a Cardholder is to make purchases in accordance with the regulations established by the University, as well as all federal and state rules to ensure accountability to the public and fairness to vendors.

Cardholders are responsible for:

  • Completing required Procurement Card Cardholder training and certification, Fiscal Code of Ethics training, and CU: Procurement Fundamentals training;
  • Ensuring that the policies of the Commercial Card Program are followed, as well as other university policies, state fiscal and procurement rules, and the Procurement Code of Ethics;
  • Obtaining the documentation required for their transactions;
  • Submitting the monthly expense report;
  • Protecting the card at all times to prevent unauthorized use, and not sharing or authorizing others to use the card;
  • Immediately reporting a lost or stolen card to the bank. The University is liable for all charges incurred on a lost or stolen card until the time that it is reported as such to the bank. However, fraudulent charges can and should be disputed. If the bank is able to recover fraudulent charges, monies will be credited to the Cardholder's account; and,
  • Notifying the Commercial Card Program and the Approving Official of transfer or termination.

Delegate

A Cardholder may have one or more delegates who can work in the Expense System on behalf of the Cardholder. Only the Cardholder can submit expense reports.

The person processing Procurement Card Transactions in the Expense System (Cardholder or Delegate) is responsible for:

  • Attaching any required transaction documentation to the monthly expense report;
  • Ensuring that each transaction has a valid SpeedType, Expense Type (Account), and Business Purpose;
  • Ensuring all source documentation that must be kept on paper is retained within the department (images of all attached documentation are retained in the Expense System); and,
  • Notifying the Commercial Card Program and the Approving Official of transfer or termination.

Approving Official

The Approving Official (AO) is the individual assigned to a Cardholder to ensure compliance with procurement card policies and with university/state fiscal and procurement rules by reviewing the transactions on no less than a monthly basis. A Cardholder cannot function as his or her own Approving Official.

The AO plays a critical role in ensuring the integrity of the procurement card program at the departmental level.

AOs are responsible for:

  • Completing required Procurement Card Approving Official training and certification, Fiscal Code of Ethics training, and CU: Procurement Fundamentals training;
  • Monitoring transactions of assigned Cardholder(s) for appropriateness of purchase;
  • Ensuring adequate transaction documentation, as identified in Section 5 - Documenting Transactions, and including explanation of business purpose for unusual purchases;
  • Identifying possible violations of assigned Cardholder(s);
  • Taking appropriate action if violations are found (see AO Specific Responsibilities & Required Actions, later in this section);
  • Ensuring expense reports are submitted by the cardholder within 30 days of the transaction date;
  • Approving expense reports within 45 days of the submission date;
  • Notifying the Commercial Card Program of changes in departmental program participants.

Note: The Cardholder is ordinarily asked to sign any Violation Notification forms issues to him or her. However, if the AO is uncomfortable asking the Cardholder to sign a Violation form, the AO can send the form to PSC Commercial Card Program with just the AO's signature, or the violation can be reported confidentially to the Commercial Card Program

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AO Specific Responsibilities & Required Actions

The AO must review assigned Cardholders' transactions for possible violations. If a violation in card use or program process is suspected or discovered, the AO must take the appropriate action as outlined below.

AO Responsibility - Ensure transactions have the required documentation.

Transactions must be supported by the documentation required, as identified in Section 5 of this Handbook.

AO Required Action - If lack of documentation is an isolated incident...

If required documentation is lost, or if the merchant did not provide documentation, the Cardholder should contact the merchant directly to request it.

If the required documentation cannot be obtained, the Cardholder must explain the situation in the Comments field in the Expense Report.

If lack of documentation is a chronic problem for this Cardholder...

Cardholders should attach any required receipts to an expense report or provide the receipts to their delegate in sufficient time to be able to submit the report within 30 days of the transaction date. If the department has set a stricter policy, the department policy will be followed.

The AO will complete a Violation Notification form and provide it to the Commercial Card Office for Cardholders who do not turn in documentation within 30 days unless there is specific and reasonable cause for the lack of documentation. This specific and reasonable cause must be documented in the comments section of the expense report.

Upon receipt of a Violation Notification form, the Commercial Card Office will notify the Cardholder that he or she has 10 business days (or less, depending on AO request) in which to submit all overdue receipts, and the Cardholder may be issued 50 violation points. If overdue receipts are not turned in within the requested time frame, the Cardholder's card will be suspended until all overdue required documentation is submitted.

AO Responsibility - Review and approve all expense reports.

On a monthly basis, the AO will review expense reports for all assigned Cardholders who made purchases. The AO will take any appropriate actions for violations or approve the expense reports.

AO Responsibility - Notify Commercial Card Administration of changes in department participants.

The AO will notify PSC Commercial Card Administration if program participants leave the department, or if new participants are to be added to the departmental procurement card program.

If an individual needs to be added to or deleted from the departmental procurement card program...

To add participants (new Cardholder) - The AO will submit a Cardholder Application to PSC Commercial Card Administration.

To delete participants (delete Cardholder) - The AO will fax a Cardholder Update form to PSC Commercial Card Administration. The AO will then ensure that the card is destroyed.